“But don’t you think they might remember the tall grumpy lady in the lift?” Shade asked, following me down the corridor along with the others.
“We’re on a DWALSH,” I said. “It’s better to intimidate than be friendly. Friendly is what stands out. Pretty soon, they’ll know to expect to be scared and bullied, and then they’ll start doing the same to the next group of kids just so they can stop getting picked on themselves.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.” Shade looked at me as though he suspected possible body snatching. “And that’s a pretty grim outlook.”
“The galaxy’s a pretty grim place.” I waved my hand to the right when we came to a choice of corridors. Then—because now guilt was stabbing at me like a tiny little ice pick—I muttered, “They chose this life.”
Besides, what did he want me to do? Give them a rousing Join the rebellion speech when we were trying to blend in?
“Not everyone has the luxury of choice,” Shade said.
“Luxury?” I asked, incredulous. “Is that what I live in? You always have a choice.”
If my goal was to shut him up, it worked. Shade didn’t say another word.
Regret clawed at my chest. I wanted to stop and apologize, but we didn’t have time for that.
“You know where you’re going, right?” Frank asked. They’d been following me, but we weren’t exactly on the level for which we’d studied floor plans and exits. Or they had. I could walk this place blind.
“We’re about to come up on the phaser control room. There’s no bypassing it if we want to get to this level’s cargo spine exit.” And from there, the stairs.
Everyone on this crew was used to simply accepting that I knew certain things about military structures, especially security hubs, which all followed the same design pattern. Jax mostly understood why. So did Shade now, but I could still see the questions spinning in his eyes. Sure, I’d spent time on Starbase 12 as a kid, but Shade probably hadn’t expected me to be this familiar with the inside of a DWALSH.
“Look sharp,” I whispered before we turned the next corner. “Bound to be people here.”
A series of windows stretched down the corridor on our left, the slightly darkened room behind them filled with floor-to-ceiling monitors that lent a greenish glow to everything around us. A row of podlike chairs faced the monitors, and I knew they had built-in directional and firing controls linked to the LZL phasers. The massive weapons pointed out at different angles from the rounded base of the station. The chairs were unoccupied, and the screens all showed error messages. Only four soldiers milled about when there were chairs for a dozen. Another moving day win—plus the guns weren’t working. The soldiers spotted us the second we turned the corner, and I’d bet good money that Bangs on Platform 9 told them we were coming.
I hadn’t truly thought we’d make it to the stairwell without having to deal with anyone more dangerous than those kids in the elevator. I’d just…hoped. At least we weren’t outnumbered.
Having no choice but to forge ahead, I stopped and popped my head into the room when we reached the entrance. “I hear your guns are out.”
A woman left the group by the monitors and walked over. “The damn things stopped working a few hours ago. The system just went blank. Never happened before.”
“Yeah. Weird,” I agreed. Were we really going to have to fix these phasers? That would be counterproductive in all ways.
I felt Shade at my elbow. His body heat steadied me. We had two options, as far as I could see. Do the maintenance, if we could, and move on, or incapacitate these people before they were onto us.
“Glad you’re finally here.” She frowned, peering through the doorway to look more carefully at us. “Wait. Who are you?”
“Bob couldn’t make it. He sent us.” Caeryssa’s easy-breezy voice rang false to my ears. She leaned against the other side of the doorframe.
“But…” The woman’s face blanked in confusion. The pervasive green glow lent a waxen and inanimate quality to her features. “I just talked to Bob. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”
I stared at her. Well, that was bad news. And moved up our timing. As soon as Bob and the real Crew 32 arrived, this whole starbase would be after us.
Oddly, I didn’t panic. Cold calm took over. Incapacitate it was—and quickly.
The soldier’s hand inched toward her belt. There was a Grayhawk there as well as an emergency button that would alert the whole base to a problem.
The three others glanced over but didn’t leave their spot next to the row of pod chairs. From here, it looked as though they were passing around a handheld video game. Dark Watch downtime. It seemed so…normal.
I was still mostly in the hallway and half-hidden by the doorframe. My gun was visible, just like hers. I didn’t even twitch in its direction. No need to confirm her suspicions.
I slid a hand into my pocket hidden by the doorway. My fingers curled around the little canister I’d found near a vault of precious books—a bonus I’d held on to when I sold the rest to Susan. I pulled out the small metallic tube. It was barely palm-sized and felt warm from being against my body. I found the trigger with my index finger, whipped the can up, and misted sleeper spray into the woman’s face.
Her eyes made a sudden O, just like her mouth. No sound came out. She dropped, her legs folding under her like ribbons. She was down in two seconds flat.
“What the hell?” The other three goons gawked in shock before springing into action. Two men and a woman charged us.
Shade blew past me like a rocket. Jab. Jab. Cross. He sent the largest man down with a crash. Right behind him, I bulldozed into another soldier and shoved him straight into Jax. Jax grabbed him around the neck from behind and heaved him out of the way. I swung back to Shade, finding a gun aimed point-blank at his chest.
Shade’s hands went up. My heart stopped dead and so did Shade, all motion arrested as the female soldier looked at him, cocking her head. Steady arm. Finger on the trigger. Bloodlust brightened her eyes. She had cold-blooded killer stamped across her face in neon lights.
Panic flared inside me, lighting a reckless and furious fuse. I lunged just as Frank shot out the camera in the corner of the room, distracting her. Her gaze flicked away from her target for half a second, and I rammed into her from the side.
She grunted as we slammed together and went down hard with me on top. I grabbed her wrist and cracked her hand into the thin gray carpet. Once. Twice. Harder. I growled and ground down with a twist.
She yelped and her fingers popped open, letting go of the gun. I shifted my balance and smashed my elbow into her skull. Her eyes rolled back. Done.